As commercial demand for semiconductor devices (e.g., memory chips and microprocessors) increases, testing of these devices has become critical for device manufacturers. To perform such tests, semiconductor device testers, such as automatic testing equipment (“ATE”), are used to characterize and to validate the performance of manufactured semiconductor devices. Many ATEs perform system level testing in which the hardware of the ATE is configured specifically for a semiconductor device under test (“DUT”).
For some types of tests, the ATE sends the DUT signals, such as direct current signals. Some ATEs include a single pattern generator that is used to generate the signals sent to the DUT. Based on the signals generated by the pattern generator, the ATE sends a signal to the DUT and the DUT responds by sending some data back to the ATE.